Sony

While Yu Suzuki may need $10 million to see a "fully realized open world Shenmue 3," he notes that $5 million is good enough to accomplish most of what he set out to do. And it looks like that's what he'll get, as Shenm...

The Last of Us was the game that proved to a lot of people that Naughty Dog could handle a mature narrative. Its writing explores the human condition and examines the child/guardian protective emotional bond. Upon relea...

It's now or neverIn case you ever considered purchasing a PlayStation Mobile game, the time to act is now.
Sony is shutting down the service tomorrow, July 15, after which point consumers will no longer be able to purchase any new content. Th...

Sony has announced the details today for their 2015 "PLAY" event, which takes place on the PlayStation Store from July 21 until August 11. Things will kick off with Journey on the PS4 ($14.99, $11.99 for Plus) on the fir...

Jul 13 //
Chris Carter
Until Dawn (PS4)Developer: Supermassive GamesPublisher: SonyRelease: August 25, 2015
This is largely the same experienced that's been teased for the past few years or so -- a horror movie simulator with stars like Hayden Panettiere, Rami Malek, Brett Dalton, and Nichole Bloom lending their likenesses and performances to the experience. As previously stated I played the first four episodes, which is roughly three hours, and enough time to ramp up the "horror" bit of the plot after three episodes of table-setting.
Yes, this is very much an adventure experience similar to Indigo Prophecy and Shenmue, complete with mild exploration and plenty of quick-time events, so you can show yourself out if that's still not your thing. Until Dawn started its life as a Move game, but thankfully Sony has retreated on that device over the years, and it's now possible to play it with a traditional controller scheme or controller-based motion.
After a cheesy intro explaining the butterfly effect (like no one saw the Ashton Kutcher movie here), Until Dawn places you a year before the current storyline, in a snowy isolated cabin in the woods. You'll learn of the tragedy that happened there through the eyes of the victims, which sets up the ensuing (and illogical) return to a year later, where all of the remaining friends attempt to move on with their lives. The key plot point here is that they don't know the deaths were actually murders, and they're setting themselves up for the same possible fate -- I mean, they should know, but this is a horror work after all.
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Visually, I actually dig the move to the PlayStation 4, and there are very little remnants of it being a PS3 game. I feel like with Arkham Knight we've finally started to move on in terms of fidelity, and I'm noticing the generational gap with each passing month. The setting is also sufficiently gloomy and impressive, but sadly, I experienced severe slowdown during some action sequences -- as in, sub-30 FPS -- something I hope is fixed in the final version.
Gameplay mostly consists of walking around, picking up and manipulating items (like Resident Evil), and making choices that can either modify short-term conversations and actions, or long-term decisions that will drastically change the narrative, and perhaps even kill off major characters. Although I haven't gotten the full taste of this mechanic in just four episodes, it already feels far more impactful than any recent Telltale game. Telltale is great at telling its story, but that's just it -- it's its story for the most part. Until Dawn gives me hope that multiple playthroughs will be worth it.
It's all very linear though, which I'm sure will scare some people away. There's very little in the way of exploration, to the point where at most, there's only one stray path (and it's usually obvious) to take beyond the other road that continues the story. QTEs, Until Dawn has 'em, and they're here in spades. Personally I still don't mind them, even if they're a cheap device when overused, so your mileage may vary here. As for myself, I found them to be entertaining and helped fuel the endearing cheese-factor of the package. And I mean that with sincerity -- this doesn't feel like a cash-in, but a proper love letter to horror in general, complete with a great atmosphere and creepy, ingenious camera angles.
Cheesy it may be, but I actually wanted to find out more about the game's world, and that's where Until Dawn excels -- lore building. You can find totems that show tiny visions of the future (good or bad, but mostly bad), which eventually complete a little meta-narrative on the history of the surrounding area, and a possible curse that dates back hundreds of years. I also wanted to find out exactly who the assailants were and what their motivations are -- and I won't even spoil the insanely interesting meta-narrative with the always talented Peter Stormare.
My gut is telling me that Until Dawn is going to turn out far better than the lackluster Heavy Rain or Beyond: Two Souls, and having grown up with the adventure genre, I'm excited to see what it can dish out. I suspect like many horror movie staples, this one is going to be pretty polarizing upon release regardless of your opinion on these types of games though.

Murder at Teen MountainI'm a sucker for horror, even if it dips in "B," heck, "C" territory. While I can turn off my brain and enjoy slasher and gore flicks like the Saw series (they walk the line of "so bad it's good" so well), more often tha...

That update I was telling you about last week is now available for Bloodborne.
Notably, if you join a password-protected match and there's a "large" level difference between players, "the guest's stats will be adjusted to mat...

Xbox boss Phil Spencer said "I think our industry is better when more people who made decisions on games play." Basically meaning executives of gaming companies would make better decisions if they themselves were ga...

I managed to get my hands on God of War III Remastered, which is still set to debut on PS4 on July 14. If you're curious, it's basically the same game, just with smoother and enhanced visuals. The original was already pretty...

The next patch for Bloodborne (1.05) is suitably cryptic and intriguing. It's going to further tweak cooperative play as well as provide the usual undisclosed fixes and matchmaking improvements.
If a player uses the Beckonin...

While I have my reservations about the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter, which is still not even halfway towards a "true open world," folks have thrown money at it with aplomb. Over the weekend, perhaps spurred by a false sense of freed...

SCE Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida is just the best. Unlike many executives around the industry (who may as well be selling soap), you can really tell gaming is close to Yoshida's heart.
Case in point: Yoshida is a mas...

Just in case you weren't impressed by a few pictures of what is allegedly one of a small number of prototypes units developed by Sony for Nintendo prior to Nintendo's surprise partnership with Phillips. And so birthed the PlayStation, all praises to it.
I like SSNES for its snakey sound, but Nintendo would never go for that, obviously.

Many of you will have heard the stories of a Sony and Nintendo crossover console that never was. Nintendo wanted a CD drive add-on for the SNES and initially approached Sony about making it.
The deals never worked out and Son...

The voice actor who played Ryo in the English versions of Shenmue 1 and 2, Corey Marshall, has been confirmed for Shenmue 3.
"We would all like to thank Corey-san for coming back," says an announcement on the Shenmue 3 K...

I feel like a digital hoarder with PlayStation Plus. So much stuff I don't need and never will.
But I do need Rain, that game about a boy who is invisible unless he's in rain. Missed that back in 2013 and haven't given it any...

Oh how the tides have changed. This time last generation, Sony was really struggling to keep up with the Wii or the Xbox with the PlayStation 3. But look at it now! (Almost) world domination!
VG247 has reported that the ...

I haven't made much use of the PlayStation Network flash sales -- the best deals are often for games I own -- but I'm happy they're a regular occurrence. There's another one this weekend.
PS4
Bound by Flame ($14)
CastleStorm...

But if I'm here...and you're here...who's driving the boat?!
Tetsuya Nomura is directing the Final Fantasy VII remake, and he's already talked about ways in which it will differ from the 1997 original aside from just the visu...

The Last Guardian dropped off the face of the earth for a few years, didn’t it? Well, turns out that may have been less Team ICO’s Fumito Ueda’s decision and more due to behind the scenes decisions at Sony.
...

The Driveclub PS Plus Edition saga is nearing its end. After months of delays, the trial version for PlayStation Plus subscribers released on the store yesterday only to be pulled. It was "premature," according to Evolution S...

This morning, at Unite Europe in Amsterdam, I finally got a chance to sit down and try out the current development kit for Morpheus, Sony's upcoming VR headset for the PS4. Having gone hands on with the newest Oculus last wee...

In North America, it's easy enough to score beta access for Street Fighter V. You'll just need to pre-order the PS4 game at GameStop, Amazon, or Best Buy to get a code via email. Those will go out starting July 20 and can be ...

First, I'd like to know if "there won’t be new characters" includes previously invented Final Fantasy VII characters, say from Advent Children, or if it means no new characters added relative to the original Final Fanta...

For most of us, that limited-edition 20th anniversary PlayStation 4 was something to look at and nothing more. Sony didn't produce enough of them to meet demand. But at least with the controller, we're getting a second chance...

Shenmue 3's existence is pretty neat. Its presence on a major publisher's stage show to hock a Kickstarter is less neat, to me. Obviously the $2 million goal (and $3.5 million raised at time of writing) would not be enough fo...

You may not have noticed from my complete and total lack of appearance in the pictures in this post, but I was at E3 2015. It was my first E3 and it was pretty alright. *shrugs harshly* I had a good time getting to meet:...

Tearaway was one of the few games to take complete advantage of the Vita's extra features, smartly tying all of them into the narrative. Thus, porting it to the PlayStation 4 feels a bit odd.
Apparently one way Tearaway Unfo...

Jun 22 //
Jordan Devore
Combat isn't anything new for the genre, but after you take enough people out and pick up orbs from fallen foes, you're put into an overdrive mode. It's at this point you need to make a mad dash toward the top of the map where there are ramps leading up to a giant hoop. Jump down through the goal as if you were a basketball to score, but watch out for incoming fire and melee attacks.
If and when your mech is destroyed, you'll eject and skyrocket to the top of the map. You can take in the scenery, or get straight back into the action by looking at one of a few colored spawn points and confirming with a button press. Given the immersion of VR, free-falling felt awesome.
Had the game just been standard team-based combat centered on blowing up mechs, I wouldn't have thought much of it. This mode, Power Slam, really was the best way to introduce it. RIGS won't be a compelling enough reason to own a Morpheus by itself, but it's a good starting point.

'Basketball with guns'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and virtual reality -- those were the two things, by far, I most enjoyed at this year's E3. Steven did an exceptional job of capturing the essence of the former, so now it's on me to ...

Like most reasonable people I figured I'd give the Xbox One some time in Japan. After all, the original Xbox and the 360 didn't do this bad -- but time has only made things worse for the console.
According to 4Gamer, as ...

A new 1TB PlayStation 4 - the Ultimate Player Edition - is headed for Europe from July 15.
"Offering twice the storage of the existing PS4," writes SCEE Blog Manager Fred Dutton on the PS Blog today, "you’ll be abl...